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History · Summit

Summit’s post office opened in 1896, and 3 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Summit was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listings are the St. Thomas Primitive Baptist Church, the DuBois, W.E.B., School and the Reverend L.W. Thomas Homestead. Below: maps from 1948 on and the census since 1990.

1896first post office
3on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Summit began

When was Summit founded?

1896

The Summit post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 170 in 19902020 census: 108130 years
Founding year: the first Summit post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Summit’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Summit are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 226 in 2000; 108 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Summit’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Summit’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Summit, census by census

010020020002020Peak: 226

Peaked at 226 in 2000; 108 people lived here in 2020.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Summit’s Wikipedia page.

The story so far

Summit, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Summit yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Summit is a town in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, United States. It was originally called "South Muskogee" when it was platted in 1910, and is one of 13 all-black towns still surviving at the beginning of the 21st century. The population was 108 at the time of the 2020 Census, down from 139 in 2010. The community had a post office as early as 1896. Like many of the other Black towns previously mentioned, Summit was a stopover destination on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway and had a depot in the community. It is said that the town may have been named Summit because it was the highest point on the railroad between the Arkansas and the North Canadian rivers.

Its first post office opened in 1896. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 139 to 108 (-22%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Summit, 1896 to 2000

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1896Post officeThe Summit post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1915Post officeThe Summit post office closes
  5. 1925BuiltDuBois, W.E.B., School is built
  6. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 21st century
  8. 2000CensusPopulation peaks at 226
By decade

Summit, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Summit OK Church 5-20252025Summit OK Church 5-2025St. Thomas Primitive Baptist Church2015St. Thomas Primitive Baptist ChurchOKMap-doton-Summit2004OKMap-doton-Summit
On the map

Summit on the map, 1948 to 1974

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Summit. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Summit on the 1948 USGS mapSummit on the 1950 USGS mapSummit on the 1974 USGS map1948Keefeton sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Summit.

On the National Register

3 historic places in Summit

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
DuBois, W.E.B., School
St. Thomas Primitive Baptist ChurchDuBois, W.E.B., School, built 1925Reverend L.W. Thomas Homestead
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Gable Front Church1
St. Thomas Primitive Baptist ChurchGable Front Church
All 3 listings
DuBois, W.E.B., SchoolBuilding · listed 1984Reverend L.W. Thomas HomesteadBuilding · listed 2018

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Summit

Nobody well known was born in Summit itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
C
Carrie UnderwoodAmerican singer and actor · b. 1983
Barney KesselAmerican jazz guitarist · b. 1923
Ester DeanAmerican singer and songwriter · b. 1982
Reubin AskewAmerican politician · b. 1928
Francis RooneyAmerican politician and diplomat · b. 1953
Sarah VowellAmerican author, journalist, singing songs and … · b. 1969
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Summit had its own post office from 1896 to 1915.

Summit
1896–1915
18901960today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Muskogee34 historic placesB+

Questions about Summit’s history

What year was Summit founded?

The Summit post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Summit?

Three places: the St. Thomas Primitive Baptist Church (listed 2004), the DuBois, W.E.B., School (1984) and the Reverend L.W. Thomas Homestead (2018).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.